Though most market-weight hogs show some degree of joint cartilage damage a t time of slaughter, the problem i s of no economic significance for slaughter hog production. Each boar was clinically scored for 14 different leg traits on a scale from 1 (normal) to 4 (very severe changes) at a weight of approx. She doesn't act injured and hasn't been near other animals except through a common fence. Hadn't wormed her for awhile, but did this morning with oral ivermectin. Any skin eruptions or lesions can occur in a matter of minutes. Administer iron shots at three to five days of age, doing so in the hind leg or into the neck. Leg weakness affects growers, finishers, sows and boars with various causes being genetic, rapid growth, lack of exercise and a nutritional imbalance. The easiest way to prevent anemia is to make sure your piglets are injected with 150-200 milligrams of iron dextran within a week of birth. Mildly affected pigs have disturbed gait with swaying of the hips or the legs may be bowed. Also in the performance testing stations, the station manager scored the pigs for overall leg action and symptoms of leg weakness at the end of the test period. 90 kg. Affected pigs develop an ascending paralysis of muscles which may progress to a complete hind end paralysis. Udder fine, in fact I think she's drying up. This is just in the last two days. Came out this morning and she's weak in her back end. The most common causes are mechanical damage to knees in sucking pigs, swelling or leg calluses particularly on the hind legs, seen on many animals that are reared on concrete floors. Overall leg action was scaled on a scale of 1 to 5, whereas only the most severe symptom of leg weakness on fore and hind legs were scaled as binary. She might be a little overweight but this behavior has come on suddenly. Osteochondrosis is a generalised skeletal disease which leads to leg weakness. Aherne SUMMARY Leg weakness is a broad term used to describe lameness of pigs caused by cartilage or skeletal abnormality or foot lesions. Abstract Genetic relationships among leg and performance traits were estimated for 2495 Landrace and 1778 Yorkshire boars kept at the Danish breeding test stations between 1981 and 1983. Culling on leg score would be expected to reduce the frequency of leg weakness. Causes. Depending on the pain threshold of the pig and the severity of the case, the animal ends up anywhere from uncomfortable to screaming with pain. Seemed fine yesterday and even this morning - however, noticed when I got back from work that her back legs keep going out under her. The pigs were fed ad libitum from 25 to 90 kg. Periostitis - Inflammation of the periosteum. Lameness is a failure of the pig to walk normally. The weakness and sensitivity in the back legs can occur in a matter of hours. The noticeable effects will be difficulty in rising or walking, swaying and misshapen limbs. She will walk around and her back legs just go out. LEG WEAKNESS I N PIGS 1 A REVIEW F.X. The feet can be examined most easily when the pig is lying laterally recumbent or lifted (manually for small pigs or using a mechanical chute for sows). My pot belly pig has weak hind legs. 6 month old Yorkshire pig - she is around 175#. It doesn't seem to be just one - or at least I can't tell which one. One such approach is to proceed from the bottom up and front to back of the pig, ie, the feet are evaluated first, followed by the limbs and torso in a front-to-back progression. Another term is leg weakness. In other words the pig partially loses the use of its lower back legs, and then its thighs and then the rear end of its body. The partial loss may progress to a total paralysis. A perfectly normal pig can be incapacitated three hours later. 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